Photos: The politics of citizenship as NRC appeals begin in Assam

Aug 11, 2018 13:24 IST

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Abdul Mannan (L) just knows a mistake was made somewhere. But what can you say when the authorities suddenly insist one of your five children isn’t an Indian? Or when your wife and daughter-in-law are suddenly viewed as illegal immigrants? “We are genuine Indians. We are not foreigners,” said Mannan, 50, adding his family has lived in Assam since the 1930s. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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People whose names were left out in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft stand to collect forms to file appeals in Mayong. Nearly 4 million people who insist they are Indian must now prove their nationality as the politics of citizenship — overlaid with questions of religion, ethnicity and illegal immigration — swirls in a state where such questions have a long and bloody past. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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Today, nativist anger churns through the hills and plains of Assam, just across the border from Bangladesh, with many believing the state is overrun with illegal migrants. “India is for Indians. Assam is for Indians,” said Sammujjal Bhattachariya, a top official with the All Assam Students Union, which has been in the forefront of pushing for the citizenship survey. “Assam is not for illegal Bangladeshis.” (Anupam Nath / AP)

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On Friday, some of the 3.9 million began picking up forms to file their appeals, wading into a Byzantine legal and bureaucratic process that many fear could lead to detention, expulsion or years in limbo. Mannan, his two daughters and two of his sons were all listed. But his wife, a 17-year-old son and his daughter-in-law were nowhere to be seen. No explanation was given. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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For decades, fears of movement across the border with Bangladesh have triggered tensions between the state’s Assamese-speaking Hindus and its Bengali-speaking Muslims. In the 1980s that erupted into violence with killings amid waves of anti-migrant attacks. Delhi eventually ruled that anyone who could prove their family had lived in India before Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence would be considered an Indian citizen. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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Pranab Mandal and his mother review their documents after being left out from the draft. Proving residency can be complicated in a region where basic paperwork has only recently become commonplace in many villages. State officials insist they have done everything to make the procedure fair. The citizenship project involves 52,000 officials, visits to 6.8 million families and countless hearings to examine family trees. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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A man gives his thumb print as he collects forms to file an NRC appeal. “First our target is to segregate the foreigners. What steps we will take against them will come next,” Assam’s chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, told the Times of India early this year. “They will have only one right — human rights as guaranteed by the U.N. that include food, shelter and clothing.” (Anupam Nath / AP)

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Few deny there has been illegal migration into Assam, often by Bangladeshis in search of work. The percentage of Bengali-speakers jumped from 22% in 1991 to 29% in 2011, and that of Assamese-speakers declined. Many analysts, however, say these numbers in part reflect a higher birth rates among Muslims. Estimates on the number of illegal immigrants vary wildly, from a few hundred thousand to many millions. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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While Muslims appear to dominate those left off the NRC, they aren’t the only people facing a bureaucratic gauntlet. “I don’t know about politics. I am a poor man. I work all day, eat, and sleep at night. I don’t go anywhere else,” said Khitish Namo Das, 50, a Hindu farmer who insists he was born in India and whose family of eight, except for one daughter-in-law, is now considered illegal. (Anupam Nath / AP)

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Pratima Namo Das, 22, (R) and her mother-in-law Tara Namo Das, 45, cook inside the family house in Mayong. It’s unclear what will happen to people who are still not listed as citizens after appeals. Detention is a strong possibility for some, but Bangladesh insists it will not accept mass expulsions. Activists worry many could be left in limbo for years, perhaps decades as stateless wanderers. (Anupam Nath / AP)

about the gallery

On Friday, some of the nearly 4 million residents left off Assam's draft list of citizens, called the National Register of Citizens, began picking up forms to file their appeals, wading into a byzantine legal and bureaucratic process that many fear could lead to detention, expulsion or years in limbo. They must now prove their nationality as the politics of citizenship — overlaid with questions of religion, ethnicity and illegal immigration — swirls in a state where such questions have a long and bloody past.